TheCable

The senate committee on power has summoned Chiedu Ugbo, the managing director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), over the alleged mismanagement of $500 million electricity assets, TheCable understands.

The NDPHC is jointly owned by the federal government, states and LGAs to manage the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).

The senate committee on power asked the NDPHC boss to account for the circumstances surrounding some fire incidences in some power plants across the country.

The committee added it is going to investigate the nature of the inferno that consumed some parts of the power plants which led to the loss of substantial electricity generation.

Some of the affected power plants include Gbarain, which had a fire incident; Ihovbor, with a turbine failure, Olorunsogo, Alaoji, Calabar and Sapele IPPs.

According to the senate committee, over 4,000 megawatts (MW) worth of generation assets entrusted to NDPHC have been substantially damaged and about 500MW worth of generation which can easily be translated to over $500 million has been run down by company.

In  addition, the committee asked the management of NDPHC to submit a detailed report of the incidents on Friday.

The company is also expected to appear before the committee on power on a scheduled date.

In July, the house of representatives had commenced an investigation into the planned sale of five NIPPs belonging to NDPHC by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).